GKN Driveline Continues Expansion in India

GKN Driveline is continuing its rapid growth in India with the groundbreaking of a new manufacturing facility for CVJ Systems and Trans Axle Solutions in Pune, India.

This INR130 crores (18 million pounds Sterling) factory will employ more than 200 people and is strategically located within 30 kilometres of a number of GKN Driveline customers including Fiat, Volkswagen, General Motors, TATA and Renault. When fully operational in August 2012, the new 8000 square-metre facility will have an annual production capacity of more than 600,000 CVJ Systems. It is planned for the new facility to also manufacture differentials from GKN Driveline's Trans Axle Solutions product range.

"This new facility positions GKN Driveline strongly to meet the continued rapid growth of India's automotive industry," said Marc Vuarchex, managing director, GKN Driveline Asia Pacific. "It is the next step in our mission to remain close and accessible to our customers in west India."

Recognising the potential growth of the Indian automotive market in the early 1980s, GKN Driveline was the first company in India to manufacture sideshafts for front-wheel-drive vehicles. The company currently employs 800 people at three factories in India: Faridabad and Dharuhera, near Delhi in the north and Oragadam, near Chennai, in the south.

In 2008, GKN Driveline opened, with an initial investment of INR100 crores (12 million pounds), a plant in Oragadam near Chennai in Tamil Nadu which is supplying auto manufacturers in south India with 1.6 million CVJ Systems. The 10,000 square-metre manufacturing facility employs more than 250 people.

Ravindra Ojha, managing director of GKN Driveline in India said, "The company's business in India has grown at an annual rate of more than 15 percent over the past five years and we expect India to remain a high growth market for years to come."